China's quality watchdog announced over the weekend China FAW Car Co Ltd., a China venture of Mazda, was recalling 42,732 Mazda6 sedans from July 20 because of an airbag problem. It said the airbag in front passenger seat may fail to work and even lead to a fire in extreme cases.

A Mazda spokesman in China said the airbags in question were supplied by Takata.

It was not immediately clear if the latest move was part of Mazda's global recall involving nearly 160,000 cars announced on June 23.

Top Japanese automakers, including Toyota, have recalled over 10 million vehicles over the past five years in a series of recalls involving both passenger-side and driver-side air bags made by Takata.